Midnight Shift

Excerpt

Chapter One

Lori painted on the final layer of her volcano red polish to her toes while clutching the phone between her ear and her shoulder. She rested a heel on the stool she sat on and blew gently.

“Lori, are you doing your toes again?” her friend, Cammie, shouted into the phone. “Damn, you do them every freakin’ day of the week.”

“Don’t exaggerate, Cam. I do not.” Lori had to laugh. “Okay, three or four times tops, but that’s it. You know I can’t stand chipped polish, and one was smudged a little. I had no choice.”

“It’s a fetish is what it is,” Cammie told her. “Admit it. You’re into feet. I don’t see you doing your fingernails like that.”

Lori glanced at her fingers with little interest. “I don’t use color on them.”

A bell dinged at the other end of the building. She glanced up but knew she wouldn’t be able to see through the bookstore, where she worked, over to the connecting Easy Mart. At three in the morning, some idiot was shopping. Noting the time had reminded her that it was late and that she should be in bed. But she had taken this part-time job. She was in it for the long haul.

“I better go, Cam. Someone came in the Easy Mart. It’s likely they won’t find anything edible over there, and they’ll come over this side to browse.” She yawned. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Try to get some sleep for a change.”

Her friend blew out a noisy breath. “I doubt it, but I’ll lie here as usual. Talk to you tomorrow. Night.”

Lori hung up the phone just as the customer moved to the doorway separating the Easy Mart from the bookstore. Despite herself, she gasped. Of course, she had expected it to be one of the shifters. Besides, who else was stupid enough to be up at this time of night browsing through Mr. Tenchow’s food items? All of it was unappetizing if you asked her.

But this man, or rather shape-shifter, was striking. She hadn’t seen him before. He was tall and thickly built, solid muscle if she were to guess. He had long sandy brown hair that hung heavy on his shoulders and honey-colored eyes that made her heart kick up a notch or two. His jeans hung just right on narrow hips, and his shirt was unbuttoned at the throat to show the slightest peek at a chest a woman could lose her sanity lying on.

However, despite the male perfection, what put Lori’s back up was the fact that this was no human and that he was proud to show it. Most of the shape-shifters stayed in humanlike form when among humans. This man’s short, furry ears twitched amid his hair on the top of his head, and his claws were extended past his fingertips.

He frowned when he spotted Lori, disapproval clear even in the stiff way he walked when he crossed the space between them. “Isn’t that unsanitary?”

Her back couldn’t get up any higher. “Excuse me?”

He nodded toward her foot, still tucked on the edge of her stool. “This is a grocery store.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t get carried away. Tenchow’s Easy Mart is no grocery store. There’s nothing fresh in there. Besides, the mart is on that side. This is the bookstore, and I put my shoes on should I have to cross to that side, which is rare.”

He grunted.

“And you’re one to talk. You’re barefooted.”

He glanced toward the bookstore entrance. “I did not see a ‘No Shoes, No Service’ sign.”

Lori dropped her foot, stood, and recapped her polish. “Well, this isn’t my store, is it? I’m not Tenchow. Now, what can I do for you?”

Instead of speaking, he let his gaze pass down over her body and took in her slender figure from head to toe. He was tall enough that he could surely see her newly polished toes over the counter. Lori fidgeted when his gaze rose again. She hated that she was wondering what he thought of her, if he found her attractive.

Her body wasn’t much to speak of. She had been a little on the thin side all her life, made worse by the fact that she was just under six feet—not a positive when she had stretched high above all the boys while coming up in school. At least she had a decent breast size, a C cup, and she had a little bit of an ass.

She slapped her hands on her hips and dropped her weight to one leg. “Are you finished? I could turn around if you like?”

“Human.” He said it with distaste.

“Shifter,” she countered. “One with no respect for others.”

His sandy brow rose, but he said nothing. From the look of him, he was the kind of shifter who believed he was superior to humans and hated having any dealings with them.

A tinkling laugh came from behind him, and a small woman—one of the most beautiful Lori had ever seen—stepped out from behind the arrogant man. She hooked an arm through his and pursed her lips. “Don’t mind Chase. He’s all grumpy because his mating season is coming soon. Right about the time of the spring equinox.”

Chase growled low in his throat. “Do not tell my business, Nichelle.”

Nichelle laughed and stuck out her tongue at him. She was too adorable. Lori wished they would leave now. Seeing as she was practically glued to his arm, the woman was obviously his mate. But what the hell did Lori care? She’d never looked twice at a male shifter.

“It’s a little late for mating season for you, isn’t it? Shouldn’t it be coming to a close?”

His honey eyes narrowed. She’d apparently offended him again.

“You are thinking of the Bengal tiger. I do not follow that animal’s patterns.”

As if he wasn’t an animal. She shrugged. “Sorry. So . . . you wanted?”

“I was looking for something to read.” He unhooked himself from Nichelle with difficulty. Lori bit down on the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing. He was either too stiff to show affection in public or Nichelle was not his lover. Lori told herself his love life didn’t interest her either way.

She slipped her feet into her flip-flops and moved around the counter. “Okay, well this is Tenchow’s, mind you, so we don’t have a lot, but there are some funny comics over on that last row if you’re interested.” She glanced back at Gloomy. He didn’t respond. “And over in this aisle is where we keep the books on politics.”

“Anything new?”

“Nope.” She moved on. “Here are some romances.”

She stopped moving and speaking. He was right up on her, that low rumble in his throat sending shivers over her body. Beside her, he rested a hand on the shelf, and the heat of his breath warmed her neck. “Your scent,” he whispered.

Mating season. Damn. She should have realized. The man was hornier than usual right now, and she had assumed it would not be directed her way since she wasn’t his kind. He had a beautiful woman with him, after all. She had to be a shifter as well, because humans and shifters did not fraternize.

“Um.” Her voice came out in a croak, and she coughed to clear her throat. It didn’t do much good. “You might like the books in this aisle.” She searched for anything that might break him out of the lust that had seemed to take control of him. Looking back over her shoulder and tilting her chin upward, she realized he was taller than she had first thought. He was a good six or seven inches taller than she, and he was so near with his head tilted downward that their lips were too close to each other.

Lori grabbed a book, any book, and shoved it into his chest. That was a mistake. The barrier of hardened muscle made her feel like sagging into that chest and offering her lips to him. This was ridiculous. She did not under any circumstances date shifters. No human did, and she was not the type to be the first.

Still, the eyes locked her in place, not allowing her to escape. Is this what the Bengal tigers did to their prey? No, he said he was not like a regular tiger, but the stripes on his cheeks and the fur on his cat ears atop his head made him look like one. The eyes. Somebody save me.

Nichelle yanked on his arm. “Get a grip on yourself, Chase. Let’s go. You don’t want a human.”

The spell was broken. Lori breathed a sigh of relief. She hurried back around the counter. “So will that be it?” She hoped the tremor still in her voice was all in her imagination. The disapproval on Nichelle’s face said otherwise.

The two were squared away quickly, and the next time Lori looked at the clock, it was time to pack up and leave for the night. Her shift ended at four a.m., when the two shops closed. Mr. Tenchow might desire to cater to the nocturnal shifters in the community, but there were few repeat customers. Whatever. If her boss wanted to toss away his money on this enterprise, so be it.

At four on the dot, Lori had locked up and was strolling the few blocks to her house in the quiet, dimly lit streets of the city she had lived in all her life.